Hi (aka PokerStrategy Ninja lifts veil thread).

This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by datsmahname: 17.10.2011 09:37.

Hey there Strategists, I figured after being a member for pretty near two years I might as well take the time to introduce myself. I am datsmahname, a common poster over on 2+2.

I never did get into posting in our forums but I participate in coaching sessions when I make it to them and my poker coach is Adamant-HQ, a well respected PS coach in the Russian forums, which is all to say that PokerStrategy has been an extremely useful resource for me over the last couple years.

I play LHE and was a reg at .5/1 taking shots until I moved, had some webament problems, and took a month off.

I've never been the type to dive in at the deep end with respect to gambling, preferring instead to slide toe by toe down the pool ladder. So upon coming back I decided to make .25/.50 my regular stakes till I warm up.

Here's my lifetime graph. the first big swing is at nanostakes. from there i climbed up to .25/.50 pretty fast. I've just recently surpassed the 100k lifetime hand milestone. Between tournaments & cash games (90% cash games) I've earned almost 2 grand in the first ~2 years playing with zero deposits.

As for my play, I'm a self described "lagtard". This year i've booked a 32/26/11.5 (VPIP/PFR/3!) style netting almost 400 in profit over 25K hands.

I'm a self taught player in many ways. I've only played live poker twice, both in home game type environments.

I think for a number of reasons SNG's remain different because of the disconnect between chips & money which doesn't exist in the same way with cash games. It's much more important to develop an understanding of the independant chip model for games with a payout structure.

Depending on the situation proper ICM adjustments lead you to be risk adverse, sometimes radically so, and making adjustments in this way would be a large mistake for cash game players.

For instance, sometimes its theoretically correct to fold aces preflop in a double or nothing SNG, but in a cash game anything remotely close to this would have exactly the opposite effect on my expected value.

Originally posted by datsmahname
For instance, sometimes its theoretically correct to fold aces preflop in a double or nothing SNG, but in a cash game anything remotely close to this would have exactly the opposite effect on my expected value.

Originally posted by datsmahname
For instance, sometimes its theoretically correct to fold aces preflop in a double or nothing SNG, but in a cash game anything remotely close to this would have exactly the opposite effect on my expected value.

What would one of those times be?

say for example there are 6 players left and there are 5 places paid.

We have 800 chips and the blinds are 100/200. We're in the Big Blind, though, so we have 600 behind.

Other Stack Sizes:
UTG: 400
CO: 900
BU: 3000

Imagine that UTG shoves, CO reshoves and BO calls.

In this spot we're getting a great price with a great hand, but unless both UTG and CO beat BU and UTG beats CO, then someone gets eliminated and we, by folding our hand, gain money for no risk.

And welcome, datsmahname! Good to have you hear. Sick LHE girafeeeee ITT sir, wp.

the idea (as i understand it) is that the probability of cashing in the tournament when you play the hand is less than the probability of cashing when you fold preflop then you should fold.

if you are on the bubble, there is a very short stack (~5bb or less), and the chip leader has raised... shipping it with AA preflop can be an ICM mistake in a DoN because the shortie will have to ship it with a wide range but will not have a very high probability of remaining in the tournament with that range of hands.

Even winning with AA wouldn't significantly increase your chances of cashing in the tournament because you've doubled through the chip leader.

By contrast you should be extremely risk adverse against the short stacks raise or push.

My explanation is probably not 100% accurate, but if you watch some of the strategy videos on ICM or DoN play you'll probably find the section that discusses this idea. I think its a silver video.

Thanks for the explanation. I read the article and it's obviously something a player learns to do after a lot of post-facto application during hand analysis. Using SNG Wizard in the middle of an SNG would be too time-consuming and difficult. So I have the same problem with ICM as I do with using Equilator: I'll have to plug in thousands of marked hands after the fact in order to acquire some aptitude for calculating both hand ranges and +$EV tournament plays in my head on the fly.

here's our blog section: blogs
i think its one of my most favorite parts of the forum
really great way to know the community better and for them to know you better. you seem pretty experienced with poker and might have a lot to share. hope you visit that section sometime. i have one myself (you see the link in my signature). ive met many great people in there.